Exelon reports $4M loss in 1Q, cites hedging costs

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 10:32 a.m. CDT

By: Julie Wernau - Chicago Tribune

(MCT) — Exelon Corp. reported a loss of $4 million in the first quarter, or a penny per share, compared with profits of $200 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier. The loss is in spite of a significant rise in revenue, which was up 30 percent to $6 billion, as the company accounted for significant hedging activity in the first quarter.

The company hedges commodity risk for the amount of energy it expects to generate and said it is it is hedging 98 to 101 percent of that generation for 2013. The company said it expects to tick down that hedging activity as markets improve, dropping to 33 to 36 percent for 2015. The point of hedging is to smooth potential price volatility.

Exelon has told investors it is looking forward to 2015, when approximately 19,000 megawatts of coal-fired electricity plants will have retired. Coal plant retirements are expected to increase electricity prices Exelon's nuclear power plants take and help to counteract stubbornly low natural gas prices have been driving down the company's earnings.